Printer&#39;s stick



F. A. PFEiFER.

PRINTERS STICK. APPLICATION FILED MAY 10. 1920'.

l 364,639. Patented Jan. 4, i921.

v I I.

/ INVENTOR. FERDINAND/1. PFf

, ATTIORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FERDINAND A. IFEIFER, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIG'NOR TO THE EAGLE ENGI- NEERING COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, .A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

PRINTERS STICK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

Application filed May 10, 1920. Serial No. 380,099.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINAND A. PFEIFER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sprin field, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printers Sticks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to printers sticks, such as are commonly used in composing rooms for the setting of type by hand.

One object of the invention is to provide a printers stick which will be very simple in its construction and operation and which can be quickly and easily adjusted.

A further object of the invention is to provide a printers stick having a locking device and a registering device which may be operated by a single actuating member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a printers stick in which the looking device may be operated independently of the registering device to enable the knee to be locked in irregular adjustments.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the device is described in detail.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of a printers stick embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the device taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing the same in an inverted position; Fig. 4: is a. sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

In these drawings I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention and have shown the same as comprising a body portion consisting of a flat plate 1 of elongated rectangular shape and having at one of its lateral edges a perpendicular flange 2 and also have at one end a perpendicular flange 3 constituting the stationary knee of the stick. The second lateral edge of the body portion is straight and the body portion is provided on its upper surface along the straight edge of the stick with graduations 4 indicating the regular, or standard, adjustments of the stick. On its lower, or reverse, side the body portion 1 is provided with a longitudinal series of recesses 5 which are spaced apart and so arranged as to correspond with the graduations 4 on the upper surface of the body. Preferably the metal of the body portion which lies between the several recesses 5, and which in effect constitutes teeth, is flat on its outer surface so that the teeth are blunt. The body portion is also provided in its lower surface with a longitudinally extending groove 6 which is spaced a short distance from and extends parallel with the straight edge of the body portion.

Adjustably mounted upon the body 1 is a movable knee 7 having its forward face arranged perpendicularly to the surface of the body portion and adapted to support the type in the usual manner. This knee may take various forms but it is preferably supported on the straight edge of the body 1 and is provided with means for locking the same in adjusted positions thereon independently of the flange 2. This is a desirable feature of the invention becauseit is very difficult to form the flange 2 perfectly straight and to maintain the same in that condition. Consequently where the movable knee is guided by or locked to the flange it is very liable to be thrown out of its proper position, of true parallelism with the stationary knee 3. The edge of the body can be machined to a perfectly straight line and is not liable to be distorted, consequently, when the knee is supported on this edge of the body independently of the flange it is a. very simple matter to maintain the same always in true parallelism with the stationary knee. In the present construction I have shown the knee as provided with a guideway 8 into which the edge of the body projects and which has its outer wall arranged to engage this straight edge of the body in such a manner as to support the movable knee at right angles to said straight edge. Suitable means are provided for locking this movable knee in adjusted positions on the body of the stick, and I also prefer to provide the same with a registering device to cause the knee to accurately register with the graduations 4 on the face of the body. In the present construction I have shown the locking and registering devices as a unitary structure in which a-single operating member will actuate both devices, but I have also shown these devices so constructed that the locking device may be operated independently of the registering device, thus permitting the movable knee to be locked in the position to which it has been adjusted, regardless of whether or not the registering device is in an operative position. As here shown, I have enlarged the intermediate portion of the knee as shown at 9, and have formed therein a bearing 10 extending transversely to the body of the stick and intersecting the guideway 8 so that the body will extend through the inner portion of the bearing. I have mounted in the bearing a locking member 11 which is, in the present instance, in the form of a bolt, the outer end of which projects beyond the outer wall of the movable knee and is screw threaded to receive a nut 12. The nut bears directly against the knee and, as here shown, is recessed, or dished, to receive the boss formed at the outer end of the hearing. The inner portion of the locking member, or bolt, 11 is cut away along a longitudinal line so that in cross section it comprises a portion only of a circle, and this substantially semicircular portion of the locking member extends beneath the body '1 of the stick. The locking member and the body 1 are provided with cooperating shoulders which when the nut 12 is in position on the locking member hold the knee against lateral displacement and which when the nut is tightened down serve to clamp the knee firmly in engagement with the body 1. In that form of the device here shown the semicircular portion of the locking member has a transverse rib, or projection, 13 which extends into the groove 6 in the lower surface of the body. This arrangement is such that the movable knee may be moved along the body 1 into adjusted positions and when the knee is in the desired position the nut may be tightened down and the edge of the body firmly clamped between the outer wall of the guideway in the movable kneeand the rib 13 on the locking member 11. The inner end of the reduced portion of the locking member 11 extends beyond that portion of the knee 7 which lies beneath the body 1, and is provided'with a registering device 14 which preferably is in the form of a dog having one or more'teeth 15 to enter the recesses 5 in the lower surface of the body. As here shown, this dog is formed integral with the locking member and the locking member is capable of a slight rotatory movement to enable the teeth of the dog to be rocked into and out of therecesses 5. To this end the upper, or cutaway portion, of the locking member and the edge of the rib 13 are beveled from the center outwardly in both sides,,as shownin Fig. 5. The operation of the nut 12 on the locking member will tend to rotate thelocking member and move the dog into engagement with the recesses, thus accurately positioning the knee with relation to the graduations 4:.

In use the device, in the position shown in Fig. 2, is held in the hand of the operator who places his thumb against the rear wall of the movable knee 7 and his forefinger in contact with the dog 14. The nut 12 having been loosened he shifts the movable knee along the body of the stick until it is approximately in line with the desired gradua tion on the surface of the body. He may then press the dog into engagement with the recesses 5 and the beveled faces of the dogs will force the knee into exact registration with the graduation which has been selected. If the operator does not press the dog into the recesses the friction between the nut and the locking member will be such that when the nut is rotated a rotatory movement will be imparted to the locking member which will move the dog into the recesses, thus retaining the knee in its adjusted position while the nut is being tightened down to lock it firmly in that position. Should it be desired to obtain an irregular adjustmennas when the type being used are badly worn, the face of the movable knee may be po'sitioned between two of the graduations 4: and when the knee is in this position the teeth of the dog will rest upon the spaces, or teeth, between the recesses 5 and as the tendency of the locking member to rotate with thenut is not sufiicient to force the teeth ofthe dogs off of these intervening spaces and into the recesses, the nut may be tightened down and the knee locked in this irregular adjustment. Further, it will be noted that that portion of the knee which lies beneath the body of the stick is arranged at one side of the center thereof and consequently when the stick is laid upon the plate or table, it'will be tilted withthe open edge raised so as to prevent the type from falling down. The groove 6 being closed at each end there is'no danger of the movable knee slipping from the'body of thefstick whenthe nut has been loosened but the only way in which the knee can be removed is to first remove the nut 12 from" the locking member.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the details thereof as various modifications may occur to a personskilled in the art.

Having now fully described my "invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: c

1. In a device of the character described, a body having a stationary knee, a movable knee adjustably mountedon said body, a registering device forsaid movable knee, a locking device for said movable knee, and a single operating device for saidregistering device and said locking device.

2. In a device of the character described, a body having a stationary knee, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body, a registering device'for said movable knee, a

locking device for said movable knee, and an operating device the manipulation of which will first actuate said registering device and then actuate said locking device.

3. In a device of the character described, a body having a stationary knee, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body, means to clamp said movable knee to the edge of said body, and a registering device for said movable knee arranged to be actuated by said clamping means.

4. In a device of the character described, a body having a stationary knee and provided in its lower surface with a longitudinally extending series of recesses, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body, a registering device carried by said movable knee and having a part movable into and out of said recesses, and means other than said registering device for locking said movable knee in adjusted positions on said body, said locking means being operatively connected with said registering device.

5. In a device of the character described, a body having a flange at one edge and having its other edge straight, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body independently of said flange, and means for locking said movable knee to the straight edge of said body.

6. In a device of the character described, a body having a flange at one edge and having its other edge straight, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body independently of said flange and having a part cooperating with the straight edge of said body to guide said movable knee independently of said flange, and means to lock said movable knee in adjusted positions on said body.

7 In a device of the character described, a body having a flange at one edge and having its other edge straight. a movable knee slidably mounted on the straight edge of said body, and a locking device carried by said movable knee. said locking device and said body portion having parts cooperating to lock said movable knee in adjusted positions on said body.

8. In a device of the character described, a body having a straight edge and having a longitudinal groove in one surface thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on, and having a part to engage the straight edge of, said body, a locking member carried by said knee and having a part extending into said groove, and means for actuating said locking member to clamp said knee against the straight edge of said body.

9. In a device of the character a body having a straight edge and having a longitudinal groove in one surface thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on, and having a part to engage the straight edge of, said body, a locking member carried by said knee, having a part extending into said described,

groove and having a screw threaded part extending beyond said knee, and a nut mounted on said screw threaded part and bearing against said knee to clamp the latter against the straight edge of said body.

10. In a device of the character described, a body having a straight edge and having a longitudinal groove in one surface thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body, having a guideway ;to receive the straight edge of said body and also having a bearing intersecting said guideway, a locking member mounted in said bearing and having a part overlapping said body and provided with a projection to extend into the groove in said body, and means acting on said locking member to cause said knee to be clamped to said body.

11. In a device of the character described, a body having a straight edge and having a longitudinal groove in one surface thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body, having a guideway to receive the straight edge of said body and also having a bearing intersecting said guideway, a looking member mounted in said bearing and having a part overlapping said body and provided with a projection to extend into the groove in said body, said locking member also having a screw threaded part projecting beyond said movable knee, and a nut mounted on said screw threaded part of said locking'member to engage said knee.

12. In a device ofthe character described, a body portion having a straight edge and having in one surface thereof a longitudinally arranged series of recesses and a groove extending parallel with the straight edge thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body and having a guideway to receive the straight edge thereof and also having a bearing extending transversely to said body and intersecting said guideway, a locking member mounted in said bearin and having a part overlapping said body ant provided with a projection extending into said groove, means cotiperating With said locking member to clamp said knee to said body, and a registering device carried by said locking member and adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with the recesses in said body.

13. In a device of the character described, a body having a straight edge and having in one surface thereof a longitudinally arranged series of recesses and a groove extending parallel with the straight edge thereof, a movable knee adjustably mounted on said body and having a guideway to receive the straight edge thereof and also having a bearing extending transversely to said body and intersecting said guideway, a locking member mounted in said bearing and having a part overlapping said body and provided with a projection extending into said groove, said vlocking member being capable of a limited rotatory movement in said bearing and having a part extending beyond said knee, a registering device carried by said locking member and arranged to be moved into and out of the recesses in said body by the rotatory movement of said looking member, and a nut screw threaded onto the last mentioned portion of said looking member.

14:. In a device of the character described, a body having in one surface thereof a longitudinally arranged series of recesses, a knee adjust-ably mounted on said body, a clamping device for securing said knee to said body comprising a member mounted in said knee for limited rotatory movement about an axis substantially parallel with the plane of said body and a part cooperating with said member to clamp said knee to said body, and a' dog carried by said rotatory member and adapted to engage the teeth in said body.

15. In a device of the character described, a body having a series of recesses arranged longitudinally thereof, a knee adjustably mounted on said body, a locking device to secure said knee to said body independently of said recesses and comprising a part overlapping the recessed surface of said body and capableof a rocking movement, and a dog carried by said part of said locking device and movable into and out of said recesses by the rocking movement of said part of said locking device.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature hereto.

FERDINAND A. PFEIFER. 

